£11m striker says he could’ve signed for Tottenham instead of Liverpool

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Tottenham and Liverpool have crossed paths in the transfer market on a number of occasions over the years.

Indeed, Tottenham wanted to sign Luis Diaz before he joined Liverpool instead, while Spurs wanted Sadio Mane before he moved to Anfield too.

Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp regrets not signing Heung-Min Son when he had the chance, while, even further back, Liverpool wanted to sign Sol Campbell when he left Spurs.

Now, speaking on the Football’s Greatest Podcast, another high-profile player has noted that they could’ve signed for Tottenham instead of Liverpool.

Indeed, reminiscing on his career, Emile Heskey has admitted that he could’ve signed for Tottenham, Aston Villa or Borussia Dortmund, but, ultimately, he decided to sign for Liverpool instead.

Emile Heskey could’ve signed for Tottenham

Heskey spoke about his £11m move to Liverpool in 2000.

The former England striker says that he could’ve joined Aston Villa or Tottenham at that time, but he signed for Liverpool instead.

“It’s a really successful time, Em, you had there and then the move to Liverpool, £11m at a time. Well, that must have been mind-blowing for him. Was it 20, 21 years of age?” Heskey was asked.

“Yeah. To be honest, from 16, I’d had, because you all know, because you play with the national team from a young age, you kind of get, you kind of get saying, attached to someone,” Heskey said.

“And I’d been looked at from the age of 16, but I wanted to play for Leicester. I wanted to establish myself. And I was on a bit of a role there as well.

“But then you get to a point where you’ve, I’ve been in the four years, five years we’ve been to the playoff final and three league cup finals. And you’re like, what’s next? I was an international player by then as well.

“So you’re like, okay, well, let’s have a look at where we can go next. And that’s trying to win titles. Liverpool was my club and I could have gone to Villa, Spurs, could have gone to Dortmund.

“Roma were looking as well, but I wanted to go to Liverpool, the fee is the fee, but it was a lot at the time.”

Emile Heskey stats for Liverpool vs Tottenham

Liverpool beat Tottenham to the signing of Heskey in 2000, and the striker did make Spurs pay in the coming years.

Indeed, Heskey didn’t have the best stats for Liverpool, but, for one reason or another, he did often save some of his best performances for Tottenham.

Four goal contributions in six matches is a great return for a striker like Heskey as he wasn’t necessarily known for being all that effective in the final third.

As for Tottenham, Spurs would sign a new striker just a few weeks after Heskey signed for Liverpool as Sergiy Rebrov arrived in north London, but after 10 goals in 60 games, it’s fair to say the Ukrainian wasn’t a huge hit at Tottenham.